Multiple Credit Card Slips / Transactions for One Order

You may be wondering why sometimes, you get a 2nd credit card transaction for a modified delivery order.

In Thr!ve, when taking a delivery order with a credit card payment, the initial transaction is run as a pre-authorization. This means we've set aside the funds on that card, but not actually charged the card yet. This gives us some flexibility to modify the transaction later.

If the customer calls back and adds a coupon, or makes a change that lowers the final transaction amount, we don't have to do another transaction. We can just lower the transaction amount, so that the "Post-authorization" at the time of the credit batch will be for the lower amount.

If, however, the customer calls back to add something to their order, now we need to charge a greater amount. "Post-authorization" for a higher amount risks downgrading the transaction and/or a decline, so we don't want to do that.

Voiding the first transaction and then authorizing the full, new amount also gives a higher risk of decline, especially because the pre-authorization has tied up customer funds. Depending on the customer's bank, voids do not clear the pre-authorization immediately - sometimes for a few days. So while the customer may have had $30 in their bank account for an initial transaction, if you now add $10 to the order, void the $30 and try to authorize for $40, the whole thing could decline, and the customer could be upset that a total of $70 was tied up in their account.

For this reason, we run a 2nd transaction for just the additional amount. Yes, its a bit of a hassle to have 2 transactions on one order, but it is more clear to the customer to see that $30 was authorized, and then $10 was added. This method is recommended as the least risky and most cost effective.

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